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A suspected Palestinian attacker killed an Israeli settler woman and seriously wounded a man in the south of the occupied West Bank on Monday, Israeli authorities said, shortly after another shooting killed two Israelis.

The latest attack is part of a sharp escalation of violence in the region in recent months, mostly involving deadly raids on Palestinian areas by Israeli security forces, attacks by radical Jewish settlers and retaliation by armed Palestinians.Ìý

The current far-right Israeli government is expanding illegal settlements in the West Bank while the Israeli army continues deadly raids which have so far killed over 200 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip this year.Ìý

Israeli security forces said the suspected Palestinian gunman opened fire on Route 60, the main north-south road in the West Bank, near the major city of Hebron.

The army said the attack killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded a man as the two were driving in the area. The Israeli rescue service reported the two victims were in their 40s.

The shooting came just days after another attack killed an Israeli father and son who were washing their car in the Palestinian town of Hawara in the northern occupied West Bank, prompting security forces to embark on an extended manhunt and putting the West Bank on edge.

Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Since then it has built hundreds of settlements in the territory and refuses to allow Palestinians self-determination there.

The current Israeli government includes extremist settler leaders who have made violently racist statements against Palestinians before.